


The City Will Bring You Home

by MeredithBrody



Category: NCIS: New Orleans
Genre: F/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/pseuds/MeredithBrody
Summary: Merri has been gone from New Orleans after spending one night with King, but he's always confident that she will be brought back to her home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title and lyrics from "City Lights" by The Big Time

**_Do you remember the night we had_ ** ****_  
_ **_We didn’t sleep at all, and we didn’t care less_ ** ****_  
_ **_About the problems that we had or the time on the clock_ ** **_  
_ _But the way you held my hand was more than enough_**

Had she forgotten all about her last night in New Orleans? Dwayne Pride wasn’t sure anymore, but the longer he went without seeing her the more he wondered what she remembered from that night. If he closed his eyes he could remember every detail about it, despite the months now separating him from that moment. Meredith Brody had turned his world upside down, and that had been long before they’d both given in to the tension that had been bubbling under the surface for as long as they’d known each other. King had known from almost the moment they’d met that Merri was going to be someone extremely important to him, and that definitely hadn’t been something that had been unfulfilled.

That night, though, there hadn’t been a single moment of sleep and he hadn’t really cared. Nothing had seemed to matter to him right then other than the woman in his arms and what could come from it when they worked it out. It had been a futile hope, and he’d known that even then. She had already told him that she might not be back for a while, but he hadn’t known what to make of that. At the time he’d thought that she was talking about the break they were all having, but now he knew that she’d already known she was going to essentially disappear. He knew where she was, but he respected her too much to just turn up on the doorstep, however much he wanted to.

The problem was that today was a slow day. On the more involved days he didn’t have time to think about Merri or what she might be going through, but on slow days that was all he could think about. The problems they hadn’t cared about on the night they’d spent together were the problems that were keeping them apart now. If only he’d listened to her. If only he’d thought to press more and learn more about what was actually pushing her over the edge. He’d seen the self-destructive behaviour, the climb to a huge fall, and he hadn’t done anything to stop it at the time. Only now could he see that she wasn’t able to pull herself out of it. Suddenly a voice penetrated his thoughts and brought his attention back to the real world. “You heard from Merri?”

“Not this week.” They all knew that she messaged him regularly, be it text or email. She’d left a couple of voicemails, but every time she had it had sounded like she’d been crying. That had broken his heart, but he’d still listened to each message a hundred or more times. He knew them by heart, but when he needed to hear her voice it was something that he could connect to. While he was the one most affected by her leaving, though he tried to hide it, he knew that the others all missed their friend, and they all wanted for her to come back. “When I do I’ll tell her you were asking about her.” It only seemed fine that he pass on that they all still loved her and wanted to know that she was alright.

“King… you should just go to her.” Chris said simply, and that thought flashed across his mind again. Just turning up on the doorstep with her parents, knowing that that was where she had retreated to, and where she was hiding herself away from the other people who loved her, and the people who wished that she was still with them. King admitted that he’d be the front of that line, but everyone else here wanted Merri to come back home. So maybe Chris’ suggestion was less about cheering him up and all about bringing their friend back to where she belonged. But would his appearance be welcomed, or would he be shunned? It was better if he stayed away and let her come back to them at her own pace.

“You know Merri, we can’t push her.” There was little that Merri reacted to more poorly than trying to be pushed into doing something that she didn’t want to do. King had seen the reactions to people who had tried to do that, and it had never been pretty. He was going to try and be content to wait it out until Merri was ready to come back to them on her own, and he knew that it was going to happen before too long. He just knew that she was going to be the one who realised that she needed to be here because this was her home and they were as much her family as her parents were. “This place is home, she’ll be back before long.” He was going to remain confident about it.

 **_And I tried my best not to be forward_ ** ****_  
_ **_But you took my breath away as we danced through the Square_ ** ****_  
_ **_The lights in your eyes reflected like a mirror_ ** **_  
_ _And they guided my heart to what seemed to be right_**

As soon as Chris stepped away his mind had drifted back to that night again. He hadn’t really expected for it to go at all like it had. It had started with talking, then them deciding to dance to the quiet music being played outside on St Ann St. Holding her that close to him had been what reminded him of all those thoughts he’d had about her over the two years she’d been there. He had had so many of them, and all of them had been entirely inappropriate given she’d been his subordinate. In the end, he hadn’t cared, after Russo he had known he should take the chance on her, and hope that she’d take the chance on him. To this day he was sure that she was happy to take the chance on him, but she couldn’t take the chance on herself.

Why she affected him the way she did he didn’t know at all, not even Linda had been able to read him so easily with just one glance, nor convey so much to him in a single look. There had been something that had always kept them connected. It was part of why their partnership had ended up being more stable than almost any other in Pride’s career. They hadn’t ever needed words, rarely had they even needed gestures. He’d just always known what she was going to do, and she always knew the moves he’d make too. In some ways maybe they were too similar, but he didn’t believe that. He was fairly sure that it was because they weren’t at all similar, they just matched. Balancing each other out in the best possible ways.

That night, why were all of his thoughts coming back to that night. Imprinted in his mind was the look in her eyes as she’d finally given him a genuine smile. The first smile he’d seen out of her since they had solved Emily’s case. She’d try to smile, but it never touched her eyes, and he’d always known that it was false. When Merri smiled it lit up the room, and you couldn’t ignore the happiness in her face when it happened. He had fallen in love with that smile and the person who had been the canvass for the most amazing look he’d ever seen. He was sure that she couldn’t look any more beautiful, but he tended to be wrong because then she’d show him something else.

It had seemed like the perfect time to make his move, and he had in the end. The night had ended in his bed, and he hadn’t regretted that at all. He had wanted to repeat it but had never had the chance. The following morning she was gone and he hadn’t known when she’d be back even then. His gut had told him she wasn’t going to be back for a while, and he hated that that was a premonition that had come true. He didn’t want to have to live through any of that. He wanted to have her right there with him, but he also didn’t want to cross any of her boundaries. He respected her too much for that.

Nothing was making sense to him, but his heart told him that waiting was the right thing for him to do, and he firmly believed that somehow even with the distance, Merri was the one guiding his heart to stay away from her. If she was anyone else he would have thought to ignore it and go for her, but that wouldn’t work with Merri and would probably push her more into herself. Patience was going to be the key here and he wasn’t really sure how he felt about that. He wanted to be more proactive and wanted to be able to tell his team that he was bringing their friend home, but he couldn’t do that. Instead, he just pulled his phone out and decided that messaging her was going to be the only thing he could to right now. Firing off a quick text he just said the only thing in his mind. ‘ _I miss you x_ ’.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Do you remember the things we said_ **   
**_I told you my life story and you talked about your dad_ **   
**_I wanted to kiss you then_ **   
**_But I didn't have the courage that it took to make me_ **

Meredith Brody was still the most torn she could ever remember being, and the text she had just received actually made her internal battle even more difficult. Along with battling with years worth of demons, she was trying to move on from a city she had come to call home, and a man she had had plenty of feelings for. Somehow Dwayne Pride had just always got her. He had always known what she was thinking, when she needed pushing and when she needed him to take a step back and just let her work something out for herself. It had meant that she missed him more than ever, and the text that he missed her too almost made her cry again. How had she thought that this was preferable to staying in the city, she didn’t know.

Flashing through her mind were the dozens of nights where she and Pride had just sat there talking. By now she was fairly sure that he knew her entire life story. She had enjoyed talking to him, felt like he was someone who understood that she wasn’t exactly the perfect woman who could keep herself going. In fact, King knew that she was the opposite of that. He had accepted her despite her somewhat obviously psychological traumas and the fact she hated to talk to most people. Then occasionally he had opened up to her in return. She was fairly sure that she was one of the only people alive who knew some of the stories that King had relayed. She held that position with pride, and she wasn’t going to betray his trust.

From the first night they’d sat up late in the office talking about their lives and their pasts she had wanted to tell him how much he had mattered to her. It had been years since she’d felt so strongly for someone, and even longer than that since she’d been able to open up to someone in the way she did to King. In fact, he was only the second person who she’d ever opened up that much to, only the second ever to see her cry. The first had been Emily. She had never even let James see her cry. On more than one occasion she’d wanted to blur the lines even further and just kiss him, but she’d managed to refrain, and now she regretted that.

She should have been more forward, maybe if she had have been she wouldn’t have been in the situation that she’d been stuck in. Russo would never have got his claws into her already fragile psyche. It was easy to look back on it all in hindsight, but right now she wasn’t sure about how she felt. She wanted to go home, she wanted to be back with King and all the others, but she also wasn’t sure if she’d actually be entirely welcomed. She couldn’t imagine them turning her away, but she also was certain that there were more than a few of her former colleagues who were mad at her for what she’d done. She hadn’t told them, and maybe if she had it would have been better.

The longer and harder she thought about it the less sense it made for her to go back. So while it made no real sense she couldn’t help but want to be back there. Nearly all of that was because she wanted to be back with King, but she also wanted to be around her friends. Then she remembered what had happened, what she had allowed to happen, and she couldn’t really face it. She couldn’t accept that going home would ever be a good idea given what she had done, what she hadn’t managed to prevent. Most people wouldn’t even know, but Merri herself would know, and she didn’t know if her anxious, awkward mind would be able to cope with that anymore.

 _ **And I know we’re barely even sober**_  
_**We’ll all wake up**_ _ **tomorrow, you’ll forget about me**_  
_**And I know the city and it’s changed me**_  
_**I’m starstruck, who can blame me? So please let me in**_

Her one night with King, that one night that was so burned into her memory it was as though she could still feel him touching her, still feeling him dragging his hands over her body, exploring every inch of her. It was as though she was right back there, feeling him exploring her for the first time, and reciprocating as fast as she could. They hadn’t been entirely sober, and they’d been dancing around the office. What was she supposed to do with that, it would affect anyone in the strangest of ways, and this was the politest way to describe it. He’d held her so tenderly, keeping her safe and protected in his arms. It was a sensation that Merri wasn’t really used to, and she didn’t know how she was supposed to deal with knowing that that was something she could have again, but that she was too scared to go back and experience it all again. She wasn’t sure what it was that was holding her back given that she already knew he didn’t want to give up on her.

Truthfully, she’d expected him to forget her the moment she left. She didn’t know why but she’d never actually thought that maybe he would be serious about her. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing that he would accept, given that he was one of the most upstanding men that she’d ever known, and while she was working for him it had been against regulations, but she hadn’t cared in the end. They hadn’t really fallen asleep that night, they’d maybe dozed, but they hadn’t slept. Then he’d walked her out and they spoke for a moment, then she’d walked away. Forcing herself not to look back, because if she had looked back she wouldn’t have been able to walk away the way that she’d needed to. It wasn’t what she wanted, but it was what she’d needed at the time. Now she was getting more and more convinced that it wasn’t what she needed anymore.

What was it about that city that had gotten under her skin? She didn’t know but it had. Maybe it was what Chris had said to her the day that she’d arrived. The city didn’t forget, it forgave. In her experience that had been accurate, but somehow something else had changed. Something within her had switched to being a fit for that city and it was not something that she could turn off again. She also wondered if a lot of the change was again to do with Dwayne Pride. He had not only been her friend, her partner and something undefined a little more serious than either of the others. Merri knew that he had become a moral compass for her and had been a role model for the ideal agent, the agent she could never be, but that was what he was to her by the time she’d left. Now all she cared about was making sure that she didn’t break.

That city had been that place she’d needed at the time and now she wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t exactly what she needed now too. At the same time, though, she was fairly sure that it was the people she needed more. She missed the insight from Loretta, not to mention their regular cups of tea and philosophical debates in their shared garden. It had become something she’d looked forward to when they had days off. She’d never even questioned about her habit of wearing her ex’s clothes to sleep in. It had all just been something that Loretta had accepted. That was what Merri needed again. People who didn’t judge her for the life she was trying to lead and the problems that came along with her weren’t deal-breakers for anything.

It wasn’t going to be a popular decision with her parents, but she knew that she needed to go back. Not just for the people, but for the fact she felt like there was an unfinished chapter in her story, and she really wanted to talk to King about what their potential was. See if he felt the same as her. If he didn’t there was no real harm, they could go back to being good friends, and if he did there was a different future for the both of them. That was what she needed. She needed that kind of a future, and so she wanted to go back now. She didn’t know where to stay, or what she’d do, but she knew she needed to go as soon as possible. Pulling the phone to her and the unreplied conversation was still on her screen. Thinking for a second she just took a deep breath she text back. ‘ _Space in your room for one more? Be there Thursday._ ”


	3. Chapter 3

_**I remember the way I felt** _   
_**When I walked you out that morning and you didn’t look back**_   
_**I’ll never live that night again** _   
_**Without the lights in your eyes my world has gone black** _

That night, King fell asleep soundly for the first time in months. The text Merri had sent saying that she was coming back just cheered him up more than he could possibly explain to anyone else. No matter how much everyone else cared about her, King needed to see her alone, he needed to speak to her and he needed to know that she felt the same for him that he did for her. He laid in bed and remembered how he had felt that night when he’d had her laid right there beside him. Remembering how he had felt that night, how the hope and joy he’d been feeling had come in waves. He had felt like that changed something, and for a long time, he thought that it had been what pushed her into leaving. Now he saw it differently, it was what she’d needed to have to come back.

The morning he’d walked her out to the gate he’d known that what happened next was all going to be up to her. He had promised to himself that he wouldn’t push her, he’d kissed her cheek and told her to call him when she got to Florida, then he’d watched her walk away. He had desperately hoped that she’d look back and give him at least a wave, anything. But she hadn’t, he’d watched her walk the two blocks to Jackson Square then seen her disappear into the morning crowds of tourists and workers. There had been so much pain he contained that morning, but he had just felt disjointed. It was an emotion he couldn’t explain easily. It had just been so empty.

Even though he knew she was coming back, and hopefully that she was coming to stay with him, he knew that he would never live through a night like that again. It had been such a spontaneous, amazing night. That was the kind of night that came about once in a lifetime, and he closed his eyes to remember the feel of her hand on his chest as they’d laid talking about whatever was in her mind. She was the kind of person who was gentle unless she had cause not to be, even in her voice and her words she was gentle, supportive and loving. It wasn’t what she’d use to describe herself, King knew that, but it was how he’d describe her to anyone who asked. She was so loving and caring, he knew that she deserved better than the lot she’d been given in life, and he would do everything that he could to make sure that she felt better.

Suddenly, his world seemed so much brighter, and he had to admit even he hadn’t noticed how melancholy he’d been feeling without her around. Merri had been his lightness, and when that brightness had gone out of her eyes after Emily’s case he had lost something too. He had lost that amazing, beautiful thing that had always made Merri seem special to him. Seeing it that night had reminded him that there was always going to be good in the world. Merri was just more tactile for him than most examples of it. He wanted to see that smile again. He wanted to see it touch her eyes and light up the world around her. All the things that he had been missing as long as she’d been missing.

_**The city will bring you home** _   
_**The lights don’t leave us alone** _   
_**So even when it’s dark out and we try to close our eyes** _   
_**The city will bring you home** _

New Orleans was a city that left an imprint on you. No matter how long you visited for, there was always a part of the people who visited that lived there. When Merri returned she’d be coming home, and he had always known that this city would eventually bring her back. That was why he hadn’t gone when Chris had suggested it, and why he knew that had been the best instinct he could have possibly had. She was coming back under her own power, returning to them all and that was what they’d wanted. He didn’t care that much about where she’d been in the meantime, as long as she was going to be home soon and he could prepare for the woman he knew he loved coming back to him.

Whenever he left he could still remember every light on St Ann’s, he could remember the areas of Jackson Square to avoid, and knew that the safest place to walk was Bourbon, thought that often seemed counterintuitive. He was sure that Merri could remember all those details too. Even in the darkness there was so much light that was brought to them all. He was just ready to get it all over with, he wished she was going to be there in the morning, but he’d be patient. There was only one thing he could reply with, other than his utter joy at her returning to him. That was that he’d been sure all along, and he couldn’t wait for her to be back. ‘ _I knew you’d come home. This city always brings it’s people home._ ’


End file.
